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Door open for sports complex

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ELLEN F. O’CONNELL/Staff Photographer The warehouse at 401 Dietrich Ave. in Hazleton is expected to become an indoor youth sports complex.

ELLEN F. O’CONNELL/Staff Photographer The warehouse at 401 Dietrich Ave. in Hazleton may become an indoor youth sports complex.

A former Hazleton Area High School softball coach who struck out in early 2016 while presenting plans for an indoor youth sports academy at a warehouse in the Hazleton Heights recently secured a special exception for operating the facility at the same location.

Hazleton Zoning Hearing Board granted the special exception that Vince Trivelpiece sought for the center at 401 Dietrich Ave.

The approval came in December after Trivelpiece appealed a previous zoning board ruling to Luzerne County court, according to Joseph Ferdinand, an attorney who represented Trivelpiece as he worked to secure the special exception.

The case was remanded back to the city zoning board so it could consider “additional information or evidence,” Ferdinand said.

The board ultimately granted the exception, according to Ferdinand and city zoning hearing Secretary Sherry Longo.

“The court didn’t tell us what to do but said, ‘We think there should be additional testimony on this issue because it’s not clear,’” Ferdinand said of the overall proposal. “We had the (second) hearing and introduced that additional evidence and then received approval.”

Trivelpiece made his second appearance before the city zoning board about seven months after he originally pitched plans for the youth sports academy.

He did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the facility Monday.

Zoning board members did not publicly state reasons for denying the application in May, but Chairman Michael Pozzessere said at the time that it was denied in part because parking plans did not satisfy zoning requirements.

Ferdinand did not elaborate on the expanded evidence or information that his client presented during his second appearance before the zoning board.

No protesters attended the latest hearing, which Ferdinand said involves the same building and the same plan that was presented earlier in 2016.

Trivelpiece said in a zoning permit application that he planned to convert an empty warehouse/storage facility into a sports academy with indoor batting cages for baseball and softball.

The facility would give youth athletes the ability to train in winter and year-round, the application states.

Joseph Thomas owns the Dietrich Avenue property, which originally housed a sewing factory and more recently served as a warehouse facility for Thomas Kitchens, according to paperwork filed with the city. A site plan attached to the zoning permit application states that the facility has two floors that are 8,000 square feet each. The building is in a R-2 medium density residential district.

In supporting documents filed with the zoning appeal application, Trivelpiece argues that the proposed use would have less of an impact on adjacent properties than the warehouse operation.

The warehouse had between 30 and 50 trucks traveling in and out of the facility each day and housed a cabinet shop with saws and other equipment, he wrote.

Trivelpiece contends that if the property were used as an indoor youth sports academy, it would generate less traffic and require less parking and loading — and reduce exposure to fire or other hazards.

He wrote in the zoning appeal application that similar uses are permitted in a R-2 district, including public parks, playgrounds and community centers.

Ferdinand said his client did not specify when the youth sports academy would open and is looking into what permits are needed for the facility.

sgalski@standardspeaker.com

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